Topeka ? A proposed ban on public nudity, drafted after a local nudist colony staged plays promoting a clothing-free lifestyle, failed to win approval from the Topeka City Council.

The ordinance proposed by council member Brett Blackburn didn’t even get a vote Tuesday night. Blackburn’s motion for approval died without a second from any other council member.

Blackburn said he was responding to concerns from constituents about plays the Lake Edun Foundation presented last month at the Topeka Performing Arts Center’s Hussey Playhouse.

State law and a city ordinance prohibit sexually oriented displays in public, but the city has nothing on the books against mere nudity.

Blackburn’s ordinance would have prohibited nudity in parks and recreation areas, on streets and sidewalks, and on private property if visible from a public place. Violators would have been fined $50.

The Lake Edun (nude spelled backward) Foundation is operated by Webb Garlinghouse on property he and his wife own southwest of Topeka. Garlinghouse, one of two people speaking against the ordinance, called it unnecessary.

“It would seem that the proposed ordinance is a solution in search of a problem,” Garlinghouse said.

Garlinghouse noted that city attorney Brenden Long concluded the ordinance wouldn’t prohibit nudity at the performing arts center and said Lake Edun plans more nude plays there next year.

No one but Blackburn spoke in favor of the ban.